Trump: Hillary Does the Hanky-Panky

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Last week Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said, “Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency.”

My reaction was, “She’s got some big shoes to fill, there, Donald!”

Politics has always been a dirty business, but for the most part our presidents have been on the up and up. Some, like Grant, Arthur, Harding, and Reagan were surrounded by corruption but didn’t actually line up at the buffet themselves.

Then Hope and Change happened, and suddenly presidential corruption was elevated to an art form and a lucrative industry. While presidents have always found ways to reward their friends and supporters, the $800 billion blank check President Obama received for stimulus and recovery packages opened the floodgates for rampant, criminal cronyism.

Getting elected to the top political office in the world takes money. A lot of it. And big contributions usually come with expectations of payback. President Obama did not disappoint. Peter Schweitzer points out in his corruption expose, “Throw Them All Out”, how ten members of Obama’s 2008 campaign finance committee parlayed $457,000 in contributions into $11.3 billion in grants and guaranteed loans for companies they own and/or direct. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The half billion dollar Solyndra scandal was one of the few crony boondoggles that hit the presses. According to Schweitzer, there were many more, and larger, that were never publicized: Solar Trust of America, $2.1 billion. First Solar, $4.7 billion (primary owners include Ted Turner). Leucadia Energy, $3.5 billion. Brightsource, $1.4 billion (primary owners include Robert Kennedy, Jr.).

The purpose of the stimulus was to create jobs, but Schweitzer says most of the grant and taxpayer-guaranteed loan money ended up in the pockets of uber-rich Obama campaign donation bundlers. A $100 million grant to Basin Electric in tiny Beulah, North Dakota created just 8 jobs. Former Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers loaned $10 million to the National Democratic Convention when the hometown (Charlotte, NC) event ran short of funds. He was rewarded with environmental waivers and $300 million in grants – a good portion of which was allocated to projects already completed!

Yes, Obama sets the Hanky-Panky bar plenty high for his successor.

But Hillary is no piker. She sold access and influence to cronies and foreign governments for billions of dollars that were laundered through the Clinton Foundation, even during her tenure as Secretary of State. As Secretary, she brokered lucrative deals between foreign countries and US corporations in exchange for huge checks.

But unlike Obama, who has no shame about how he distributes the taxpayer’s money and makes no effort to hide it, Hillary goes to great lengths to avoid transparency. Umm, I mean getting caught. She removed records of 75 secret meetings with donors when she was Secretary of State. She set up her own personal email server and deleted perhaps 30,000 messages, putting national security at risk just to hide her Hanky-Panky. She was paid enormous sums for speeches she made to banker friends on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, Democrats giggle at Donald Trump because he is not raising cash at Clinton’s torrid pace.

After Obama, and with the possibility of a Clinton presidency looming, maybe it would be good to elect a leader who doesn’t have to do the Hanky-Panky to pay back his cronies.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I never saw her, never never saw her . . .
My baby does the Hanky-Panky!

Hanky-Panky – Tommy James and the Shondells

Big Government Elitists Are On The Run

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 1

cartoon by Gary Varvel

Voters in Great Britain took a courageous stand against their heavy-handed, uber-liberal, politically correct, elitist big-government overlords at EU headquarters in Brussels yesterday. They said NO to open borders. NO to uncontrolled Muslim immigration. NO to global-warming hoaxes. NO to stupid monetary policy and negative interest rates. NO to profligate gender-bending. NO to anti-Christian aggression. NO to over-regulation of businesses and micro-management of personal lives. NO to identity politics and fear of offending everybody. NO to corruption and croynyism. NO to rampant welfare programs. NO to top-down decision making by unaccountable bureaucrats.

Other European nations will likely follow Great Britain’s lead and jump ship soon. Enough is enough.

Could this be the start of a world-wide movement back to “normal” government? Mainstream America has repudiated its permanent political class, and despite the best efforts of the DC insiders (both Democrats and Republicans) to barricade the Beltway, the ascendance of common-sense outsiders to national leadership looks more likely every day. Don’t be fooled by the liberal-media polls who try their best to throw cold water on the “throw-the-bums-out” movement. European pollsters predicted right up until election day that the Brits would stay in the EU – and were embarrassingly wrong.

Government is nothing more than dollars-in, dollars-out, just like any business. And every competent business manager knows that the way to make good decisions is to push them down to the lowest possible level of the organization. Family decisions should be made at the family level. Cities, counties, and states can manage their own affairs. We shouldn’t expect or allow our federal government to handle much more than borders, national security, and foreign policy. When condescending, elitist government officials try to micromanage every aspect of human life, the result is Venezuela.

Socialism has never worked. It never will. America will be great again. And those who jump off the socialist European Union ship first will be healthy and robust again too. Those who don’t are in for some tough times. Other confused nations (Canada? Australia?) will see the stark contrast and will move back to sanity.

It’s been a long wait. But something tells me we are in for something good.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Something tells me,
I’m into something good!

Something Good – Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits)

Yep, Herman is still around! He does a great weekly “British Invasion” radio show on Sirius/XM radio, full of salacious stories about his young teenage years which he spent bar-hopping with his older (and reportedly decadent) Beatles and Stones buddies. Herman admits the stories may or may not all be factual, but they sure are entertaining.

Hey! Obama! Get Off Of My Cloud! (and out of my neighborhood)

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Here we go again. This month President Obama, through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will enact the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Act”, a mandate that will force communities and developers to mix section 8 welfare housing into more affluent neighborhoods.

“HUD is working with communities across the country to fulfill the promise of equal opportunity for all,” a HUD spokeswoman said. “The proposed policy seeks to break down barriers to access to opportunity in communities supported by HUD funds.” — the Hill 6/11/15

“The Fair Housing Act has two goals: to end housing discrimination and to promote diverse, inclusive communities. The second goal is referred to as Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), and it embodies our strongly-held American values of fair access and equal opportunity.” — National Fair Housing Alliance

There are so many things wrong with these statements that I don’t even know where to start.

“Equal opportunity for all” is a noble goal – and it’s what made our country great. All Americans should have the opportunity to work hard, earn, save, and succeed, and I believe that for the most part we still do. But equal opportunity is not what this ruling is about. Remember Joe the Plumber? President Obama told him we need to “spread the wealth around.”

People who live in nice, expensive homes did not get there by accident. They weren’t just lucky. And it’s not “white privilege”, because there are plenty of minorities barbecuing in those big back yards and inviting their white neighbors over.

No, this is just one more blatant overreach by a President who believes in equal outcomes, but not equal effort. He thinks in the interest of “fairness” it is not enough to take money from earners by force and give it to non-earners – now he wants to make them live together.

Yes, there is discrimination in housing. People who study, work hard, make good decisions and save their money are able to buy nice homes and raise their families in clean, safe neighborhoods with nice streets and good schools. Slackers and fools are neither entitled nor welcome there.

Economic discrimination has been in place since the dawn of civilization. It’s normal. It works. It encourages people to be smart and industrious. Is it fair? Yes! Allowing people to earn property, keep it, and use it as they wish is the epitome of fairness!

Fortunately most people are blessed with a sense of charity, and will voluntarily help care for those who are unable to support themselves due to physical or mental disability or disaster. And taxpayers know that public services for all are necessary. But there is nothing charitable or voluntary about the government forcing one to open his home, his neighborhood, or for that matter his nation’s borders to another only to “spread the wealth around.”

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has proposed an amendment that would defund Obama’s executive action, but on different grounds. He says implementation of the HUD rule is taking planning and zoning authority out of the hands of local officials, and he’s right. But his amendment won’t pass (has Congress defunded anything lately?) The federal government has had great success in recent years at pushing “social enlightenment” out to the communities through the promise of grants for “free money” that will be withheld if the local authorities don’t follow their mandates.

How sad is it that city “A” takes grants that are paid for by the citizens of city “B”, and vice versa, and both cities think the money is free?

Citizens will have to get involved in local government, educate local leaders to the dangers of taking grants with strings attached, and elect congressmen and executives who honor the fourth amendment. We need to get the federal government back in its box and out of our back yards!

Hey, you, get off of my cloud!
Hey, you, get off of my cloud!
Hey, you, get off of my cloud!
Don’t hang around ’cause two’s a crowd
On my cloud, baby!

The Rolling Stones – Get Off of My Cloud

Hard to believe this music is fifty years old. It still rocks!

Illegal Immigrants: Don’t Rock the Boat

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

rock the boat At breakfast this morning my daughter was relating a conversation she had with a neighbor-friend who is a third-grade teacher at a predominantly Hispanic public elementary school. They were discussing the problems caused by the extensive federally-required testing of third graders – the loss of instruction time, the stress for students and teachers, the declining scores. Then the teacher made a startling observation.

“It’s not just the testing that’s a problem, ” she told my daughter. “I have a room full of kids who don’t value education. That’s because they come from families who don’t value education.” She said nobody at home speaks English, so the children have no interest in learning English, or much of anything else, at school. They don’t see anything at home that connects education to success in life or anything positive. “They act out all day. Our classroom is chaos, and we are not allowed to discipline because the school is afraid of legal action.”

Another friend of mine is a kindergarten teacher who teaches entirely in Spanish. Her students receive no English instruction. She reports the same lack of discipline and respect in her students, and suffered a serious physical attack by one of them. Her administration warned her to not report the incident to police or other authorities.

Both of these talented young teachers are now questioning the wisdom of their career choices.

After breakfast, I flipped through the Sunday morning news shows, landing on the Fareed Zakaria GPS report about discrimination. He pointed out that many more schools are now segregated than were before Brown vs. Board, and went on to say performance and outcomes in these “minority” schools is much worse than in “desegregated” schools. He carefully avoided one critical detail. The segregation in today’s schools is English-speakers vs. non-English speakers. American-born vs. (mostly) illegal aliens.

The other Sunday news shows all had the obligatory segments with talking heads explaining how Donald Trump has no chance to be elected president because he offended Hispanic voters by saying Mexican criminals have come across our open border. The news producers shelved the video showing protesters at a Trump rally assaulting police while waving Mexican flags.

My sensibilities were a little bit rocked by all this turbulence before my third cup of coffee. I had to say: this is just not working.

We can not leave our borders unprotected any longer. We can’t continue to pretend that these are only poor “refugees” wanting to celebrate America, to do the jobs we won’t do, and to help raise the tide that floats all boats. The boats that were already here are taking on water. We don’t have enough jobs for our own citizens. Our schools and support systems are sinking under the weight of foreigners, many of whom have no intention of assimilating.

I’m not a bigot or a selfish meanie. I’m not broad-brushing Hispanics or any other minority as terrible people. I’m not saying no more immigration, ever. All I’m saying is, what we’re doing now – unfiltered, uncontrolled mass immigration driven by liberal public benefit programs – is not working. It has to change before the boats all tip over.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rock the boat, don’t rock the boat baby
Rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over
Rock the boat, don’t rock the boat baby
Rock the boat

Rock the Boat – the Hues Corporation

Lesson From Zimbabwe – It Could Happen Here

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 1

farming in africa The US Constitution lists many of the rights we citizens enjoy: the right to assemble, to speak freely, to bear arms. The most important right of all is overlooked by most Americans. You never see it mentioned on a protest sign, or by a political candidate. It doesn’t have its own enumerated amendment in the Bill of Rights. It is the right of individuals to own property and use it for their benefit.

While the word “property” is only mentioned once in the Constitution, the right of citizens to own and control it is woven throughout the document. The Constitution even restricts the federal government from owning land that should be available to the citizens. The framers knew that private ownership of property is the cornerstone of a free and productive society, and history has proved them right again and again. Nations that defend the rights of property owners enjoy advanced economies and quality of life, while authoritarian governments who possess and control property doom their people to a life of suffering and subsistence.

Venezuela is on the verge of collapse and bloody revolution as the socialist government nationalizes more and more private industry and property. Cuban and North Korean citizens have been mired in poverty for generations. China and Vietnam, while still communist, have seen the economic light and have begun “sharing” ownership of property with individuals – a measured step in the right direction.

Perhaps the starkest example of the tragic battle for control of private land is the recent history of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was colonized by the British in the 1880’s, and named Rhodesia after Cecil Rhodes, the founder of the chartering British South Africa Company. The colony was made up of Northern Rhodesia (which became Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe), and Malawi. White colonists claimed and developed most of the fertile and mineral-rich land, built a thriving agricultural industry, and brought employment and security to Rhodesia’s indigenous people. At its peak, Zimbabwe led the world in production per acre for as many as seven different crops.

In the 1960’s the colony was split up. In 1970 Zimbabwe’s white-minority government declared independence from Great Britain, although it was not recognized. A decade of civil war and violence followed, mostly driven by nationalist Robert Mugabe. In 1980, Great Britain finally granted independence to Zimbabwe, celebrating its new constitution and democratic government. But in the following decades, Mugabe set out to confiscate all white-owned property, and the constitution and courts were hollowed out. “Resettlement” laws were passed and the farmers, who were promised (but never received) compensation, lost their land to Mugabe’s cronies, who were unprepared and disinterested in operating the farms. Most of the white farmers and countless thousands of their employees were tortured and killed as Mugabe’s plan to eliminate Zimbabwe’s food production was carried out. Agricultural output evaporated, plunging the entire nation into dependence on the government for rationed handouts, mostly provided by other nations.

One of these farmers, Ben Freeth, documented the destruction of Zimbabwe in his book, “Mugabe and the White African”, and points out that the seizure of land and private property is a tyrant’s most effective weapon:

“Land reform is about controlling the land in order to control the people on it. People need to eat, and in hard times they rely on the land to be able to grow food so that they can survive. Dictators – like Stalin in Russia and Mao in China, Pol Pot in Cambodia and Mengistu in Ethiopia – all knew that once they controlled the land they could control the food supply and nothing could then stand in their way. They could stamp out all opposition by using food to control people, just as Pavlov used food in his experiments with dogs and got them to do whatever he wanted. It has happened in country after country in Africa. Property rights have been usurped in the name of land reform and tyranny reigns unchecked.”

Zimbabwe’s troubles continue even today as Zimbabwe’s sham government still pretends that it will pay restitution to the displaced farmers.

The history of Zimbabwe offers a lesson for Americans. When a news item hits the wire revealing another land grab by the federal government, we had better pay attention. Under President Obama the federal government has nationalized over 265 million acres. That’s about three times the size of Zimbabwe.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa

Africa – Toto

What If Our Government Ran Like A Business?

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

govt and business Our country was built on business. Free market, survival-of-the-fittest, improve-or-die business. The United States of America has always been the land of opportunity – a place where success is not only possible, but fully expected by those who follow the timeless and dependable business formula: work hard, be fair and honest, embrace change, meet the customer’s needs, strive for continual improvement. Roll up your sleeves, git ‘er done. Take care of business.

American business people know how to build success and wealth that is shared by all. It’s a perfect system, where vendors, employees, owners, and customers all benefit when the business model is executed right. Our Constitution was written by geniuses – all of them businessmen. It empowers individual citizens and protects our property rights, both of which build prosperity. The framers clearly viewed daily life as business.

We are, and always have been, good at business. So why do we suck so badly at government lately?

GDP growth is stagnant. As our labor participation rate shrinks, our debt explodes. Real wages and buying power have plummeted. Federal government gets bigger while the quality of its work gets worse. Our military has atrophied, our infrastructure is pathetic by international standards, and we have achieved banana-republic corruption status. TSA security lines at airports are three hours long. Our government can’t control our borders, but they are laser-focused on who goes in which bathroom.

It seems like our federal government can’t get anything right these days. Maybe it’s because we haven’t had any business people running the show for a long time. Washington, DC is now bulging with academics, lawyers, and career politicians.

If a business leader were in charge of our federal government, he or she would find a world of opportunities for easy and quick improvement.

A business leader would establish accountability. In business, if an employee or a manager is given adequate resources and training and still doesn’t get the job done, he or she is fired. In the federal government nobody is fired – ever – no matter how egregious their performance or corruption. We can no longer afford government employee unions. The outrageous pay rates and guaranteed benefits, the horrendous productivity, the protection of bad employees and the corrupt crony connections between government unions and politicians must stop. Without the drag of government unions, the cost of government could be significantly and quickly reduced, and performance improved.

A business leader would face fiscal realities. Unlike the current group of academic dreamers and socialists in government who think throwing taxpayer money at any problem will solve it, business people know that money does not grow on trees or printing presses and does not magically cure every hiccup. Believe me when I tell you that no company (at least none that survives) budgets like our government does. Can you imagine Ford increasing its budget for production of each model by 15% every year, regardless of sales and profit? Of course not. Ford, and every other company, large and small, operates by zero-based budgeting. Every department or product must justify every dollar spent with performance and profit, every year.

A business leader would set and maintain priorities, and establish a functional management structure. Sadly, our federal government has become a patchwork of obsolete and redundant agencies and departments with overlapping or obsolete agendas and nobody really in control. Survival and success in government work relies on political connections, not performance. Bureaucrats are rewarded based on the number of employees they acquire, not on their accomplishments – and certainly not for efficiency! Every successful private enterprise has a business plan. We need a government plan, with real and measureable objectives, and a solid management framework to ensure that the objectives are met.

Government insiders, and most liberals, would argue that government can’t be run like a business, because it does not exist to react to consumer demand and offer a product. I disagree. Citizens have needs that must be supplied by the federal government, and they are set forth in the Constitution. Unfortunately, our behemoth government cranks out mountains of products that we don’t want or need, and does a pretty lame job of providing the services we do. Some will say that most of the cost of government is “entitlements” that can’t be reduced. That’s BS. Built into the cost of entitlements is a huge bloat of inefficiency, fraud, and corruption.

Of course the nation’s executive must share power with Congress. But that’s no different than a private business being driven by consumer demand. The leader must have vision and the ability to direct and motivate others.

If Donald Trump is elected, we may have the opportunity to see if our government can be run more like a business, and if that results in improvements for American citizens.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

And I’ll be taking care of business (every day)
Taking care of business (every way)
I’ve been taking care of business (it’s all mine)
Taking care of business and working overtime! Watch out!

Bachman Turner Overdrive – Takin’ Care of Business

Liberal Democrat “Divide and Conquer” Strategy Is Doomed

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

divide-and-conquer Liberals fervently believe in protecting women and women’s rights. They claim that anybody who is not a liberal Democrat must hate women. Meanwhile, they insist on accepting hundreds of thousands of Muslim immigrants, most of whom require that their women are not allowed to show their faces in public and must be totally subservient to their husbands. So which is it, liberals? Are you for women, or for Muslims?

Liberals also claim to be the champions of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transvestites, and all other sexual subdivisions. Most Muslims don’t tolerate sexual nonconformity, and in some Muslim countries LGBT’s are routinely executed. If I were gay, I sure wouldn’t join the Democrat support for the Islamization of the western world.

Radical environmentalists are almost universally liberal Democrats. So are labor union members. But wait, isn’t the liberal war on coal and fossil fuels responsible for the loss of countless jobs in those industries? Hmm, it would be hard for me to vote for Hillary if I had just lost my high-paying energy sector job while billions of taxpayer dollars are still being dumped into dead-end solar projects to pay off Democrat campaign contributors. In fact, no American worker can be happy about job-killing policies like rampant immigration and anti-energy regulation with no proven benefits.

Well, at least the liberal Democrats can still claim that they are the only Americans who care about blacks and Hispanics, right? After all, it is their policies that have resulted in all the progress enjoyed by minorities over the last sixty years. Look at how much better off the citizens of Detroit and Baltimore are thanks to their monolithic Democrat governments. And check out how our first African-American president has improved race relations, and education, and employment, and income equality. Oh, that’s right, those things have all gone straight down the toilet for minorities and everybody else (except politically-connected Wall Street bankers) since Obama’s coronation.

This mind-numbing hypocrisy is why common sense Americans can’t understand how liberal Democrats get elected and re-elected.

The liberal game plan has always been to divide Americans into as many sub-groups as possible, and then claim to be the champion of each one. But wouldn’t you think they would have to actually show some kind of success to keep winning the support of all of these groups?

Fortunately, the “divide and conquer” strategy is on its last legs – common sense Americans of every stripe can’t go for that any longer. We know that all people have the same wants and needs, so pitting groups of us against each other is ill-fated. A good education is as important to a minority family as it is to a white family (who will soon achieve minority status anyway). We all need good jobs at fair wages. Nobody wants his wife, mother, or daughter to be abused, or likes dirty air and water, or would put the sick and elderly out on the street. And certainly nobody wants a government so huge and awkward that it can’t get out of its own way, much less provide cost-effective benefits.

We’ve had enough political promises that pander to one group or another. Candidates, tell us what you will do for America.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I can’t go for being twice as nice.
I can’t go for just repeating the same old lines.

I can’t go for that, no!

I Can’t Go For That – Daryl Hall and Rumer

T-Rex Trump Devours Low-T Ryan

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 3

Ryan vs Trump Paul Ryan attended the University of Miami (Ohio) where he got a degree in economics and political science and worked for John Boehner’s congressional campaign. After graduation he immediately moved to Washington, DC and became enmeshed in the Republican machinery. But for a short stint selling hot dogs, Ryan has never held a non-government job. In 1998 he ran for Wisconsin’s first district congressional seat, and won. Since then he, like most incumbents, has been repeatedly re-elected, and in October of last year he replaced his old friend Boehner as Speaker of the House, causing a uproar among grassroots conservatives. He promised to bring “regular order” back to Congress, whereby the budget would be broken into spending bills which would by voted upon individually. Instead, he rammed through another hideous “omnibus” spending bill chock full of Boehneresque pork and political paybacks. Like his predecessor, Ryan has shown no desire to stand up to the Obama juggernaut of executive overreach. Now Ryan says he is “not ready to support” Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate for president. (170 words)

Ryan is a Washington Insider. (5 words)

Ryan was elected to Congress by receiving a few hundred thousand votes in his Wisconsin district. Trump, meanwhile, is set to smash GW Bush’s all-time record of almost 11 million Republican primary votes nationwide. Despite his delusions of grandeur, “Low-T” Ryan’s position on the political food chain is significantly beneath than that of “T-Rex” Trump. While a few conservative members still sheepishly defend their support of Ryan’s speakership, many have already had enough, and there are whispers in the DC jungle of an insurrection.

Like many other Washington Insiders, Ryan thinks it is still safe to look down his nose at Trump and Trump’s legions of supporters. His arrogance is exactly why Trump enjoys such historic public acclaim. They still don’t get it. And if they don’t get it pretty soon, they risk extinction.

T-Rex Trump, ever the populist, knows what’s bugging voters. While Ryan and the Insiders whimper that government will have to cut back benefits for seniors, Trump says let’s rev up the economy. As the Insiders fuss over how many hundreds of transgendered Mexican environmentalist college safe-zone dwellers they can win over from the Democrats, Trump invites the every-man masses to join him in making America great again. While the insiders fear alienating women voters, Trump promises to protect them from invading hordes of Muslim immigrants, many of whom believe in the systemic abuse of women (and gays).

Sorry, Paul Ryan. T-Rex Trump is stomping around the jungle, hunting for breakfast, and you Insiders are looking pretty tasty.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Open the door, get on the floor
Everybody walk the dinosaur!

Walk the Dinosaur – Was (Not Was)

Let’s get funky with Was (Not Was)! Get up out of your chair, get your blood pumpin’ a little bit!

To My #NEVERTRUMP Friends: Let’s Roll the Dice!

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 3

Trump I voted for Ted Cruz in the South Carolina primary. Last night, after getting Trump-thumped (again) in Indiana, Cruz pulled out of the presidential race.

Many of my friends and acquaintances who “Rock on the Right Side” are really bummed today. They say they will never vote for Trump. A number of them have disowned the Republican Party or proclaimed it dead. Some express fear that Trump will start a trade war with China and trash our economy (presumably worse than it already is). The angriest among them shout that Trump is a Democrat plant, intent on destroying the nation once and for all.

I remember how bummed I was when Obama was re-elected in 2012. I knew what to expect from his second term, although I admit my surprise that Congress didn’t put up any resistance at all. So I understand your despair on V-D day (Victory for The Donald). If I could, I would buy each of you a beer and we could all cry in them together.

But just one beer.

I agree that Trump, at times, sounds like an idiot, despite his insistence that he “has a good brain” and is “very smart.” I know that he is not all that interested in the Constitution, that he has supported liberals, and that he is on the wrong side of some pretty important values issues. He’s rude. He’s coarse. He’s arrogant. I get it. But I will be voting for him in November anyway. Here’s why.

First of all, it must be repeated that we know for certain how awful life under Hillary will be. If you don’t know that, or are in denial, I can’t help you. Hillary will be Obama on steroids – ten times more aggressive and fearless – and we won’t be able to count on Congress or the Supreme Court to defend us. This alone should be all the motivation you need to take a chance on Trump, or maybe you have children or grandchildren to think about. On the other hand, if you strongly believe our priorities should be making safe zones for college students, building special bathrooms for .06% of the population, shutting down energy production in the USA while China builds a new coal plant every week, and igniting warfare in our country over race, sex and income level, just let Hillary win.

Consider, too, that for the last eight years our nation has been led by politically-correct academic knuckleheads. Is it any wonder our economy has tanked when nobody in the administration knows anything about business, economics, trade, foreign relations, military strategy, or anything else? What if, for a change, we have a president who brings in qualified experts from the real world to replace the self-serving government weenies and delirious socialist academics currently running our federal government?

I can’t guarantee that Donald Trump will do that. He hasn’t shown a whole lot of depth or detail to back up his populist promise that he will “make America great again.” But he might.

He might make the EPA back off and let the USA become the energy powerhouse of the world. He might beef up our military, knock out the terrorists and regain the respect of other nations. He might protect us from the plague of uncontrolled immigration that is destroying Europe. He might clean house on our bloated, inefficient and corrupt federal government and make it work for the people. At least Trump won’t have to pay back crony campaign contributors and lobbyists.

There is the chance that things could be a hell of a lot better than they are now, and fairly soon.

I’m willing to roll the dice.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Say now baby, I’m the rank outsider,
You can be my partner in crime.
Baby! Baby!
You got to roll me and call me the tumblin’ dice!

the Rolling Stones – Tumblin’ Dice

My boys are getting a little bit wrinkled – but they still rock!

Trump’s Promise to Put “America First” – End of the World?

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 1

I watched Clarence Mason’s interview on Lou Dobbs tonight. Mason’s enthusiastic support for preserving our traditional values and way of life was stimulating and inspirational.

Dobbs was reporting on Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech, in which Trump said his priority would be to put “America First” in any foreign policy decisions. Dobbs asked Mason what he thought of Trump’s pro-America stance, and it was like lighting a fuse under a bank of July Fourth fireworks.

“Of course we should put America first!” Mason cheered, explaining that he is tired of everybody blaming America for every problem in the world. He proclaimed his pride in the USA and his desire to rebuild our economy by taking a fresh look at foreign trade, mass immigration, and one-sided military agreements. He clearly reveled in what he sees as Trump’s common-sense mix of protectionism and patriotism.

Trump’s proclamation drew immediate scathing rebuke from all directions. “Trump’s ‘America First’ Has Ugly Echoes From U.S. History”, was the headline slam from CNN. Reuters piled on with “Trump’s ‘America First’ Speech Alarms U.S. Allies”. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of 15 wanna-be presidential candidates who took a butt-whoopin’ by Trump, tweeted “Trump’s speech is pathetic in terms of understanding the role America plays in the world, how to win the War on Terror, and the threats we face.” (Full disclosure: I voted for Cruz over Trump in the South Carolina primary, but an enemy of my senator Graham is absolutely a friend of mine!)

But back to Clarence Mason.

I have been listening to pundits from Glenn Beck to Meghan McCain to Steve Deace wailing that Donald Trump’s popularity and ascent to the top of the presidential ticket is the end of the world as we know it. They insist that Trump will lose to Hillary Clinton because ALL women hate him and ALL Hispanics hate him and ALL blacks hate him.

Here’s a news flash. Clarence Mason – black guy. And there are many, many more like him attending Trump rallies and talking politics after church and on coffee break. Women too. And Hispanics. People of every race, gender, and income bracket. They are tired of the big-promises-no-results Republicans. They have learned the truth about the we’re-from-the-big-government-and-we’re-here-to-help-you Democrats. Just like the angry white males that the media claims are Trump’s only supporters, they are not going to get fooled again.

The pundits and the insiders are apoplectic. They can’t understand how, and they won’t admit, that Donald Trump is very likely to be our next president. But it’s really so simple. After years of being told that we are the scum of the Earth, we Americans – white, black, Hispanic, male and female – want a president who puts America first for a change.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it,
And I feel fine!

It’s The End of the World As We Know It – R.E.M.